The Asteroid

Part 4

xxiii

"Daine's suicide note" has been put in every newspaper and read on every program.

The whole world knows "her" words.

Like with Cruise, she's almost more popular dead.

It's okay, though. Mahlah is in office. She hasn't done anything yet.

I wonder how long that will last.

Sanders says that Mahlah will choose her Vice in about a week, and due to one of Daine's laws, any new viziers or consultants. We'll know then what Mahlah's rule will be like.

With any luck, it will be benevolent.

xxiv

"It's me," Sander says, smirking. "Mahlah's made me Vice."

"Really? Well, congrats."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. What are her viziers like?"

"There's Flemming, he's a bit of a hippy. Ram, he's not pleasant, neither is Kelly, they're friends. And there's Reiterei, she's not great either."

We get a relatively decent Dictatorial and she chooses terrible advisers. How very.

To be honest, though, Mahlah isn't the strongest figure. At least, not from the impression I got from her when she spoke with Sanders.

I'm not sure why these things keep surprising me.

People will always be predictable. Predictable means making bad decisions.

I should really stop expecting people to change. It'll save me some disappointment.

"Mahlah won't be as bad as Cruise or Daine. She's better than them," Sanders says. She sounds relatively confident.

I go against my own advice. I believe her.

xxv

It's been a week and a half.

Mahlah's advisers have already corrupted her.

According to Sanders, Ram, Kelly, and Reiterei have convinced her to raise taxes. To help house government officials. Or in other words, them.

Flemming, "the hippy," is apparently the best of Mahlah's advisers. Instead of begging for money, he spends the whole time talking about world peace.

Overall, Mahlah didn't do well choosing advisers. She needs help.

Sanders has said that she's trying. Mahlah just is bribed by the rest of her advisers. Together, they have more than Sanders can offer.

I suppose we could just kill Mahlah. That would solve the problem. Sanders would be in, and she'd be able to pick a group of decent people to take over when she lost power. Eventually, though, we'll be back where we started. An abusive leader and no end in sight.

We cycle through the same cycle; cruel, greedy, corrupt, and decent. It's a circle, it never ends. Cruise was cruel. Then she died and was replaced by Daine. Daine was greedy. Then she died and was replaced by Mahlah. Mahlah was corrupted. If Mahlah dies, she will be replaced by Sanders. Sanders will be decent, and maybe her successor will be too, but eventually power will fall back into cruel, greedy, and corrupt hands. It always does.

It's society, I realize. It's the system.

As long as society exists, there will be cruel, greedy, and corrupt people. There will be people who turn to death to try and escape it. Who suspend themselves from rickety fans. People who wait for discovery and leave broken behind them.